Waking Madison Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Remember that upcoming thriller about the woman who thinks it's a good idea to starve and isolate herself for a month to rid herself of her mental issues? Well, that's Waking Madison, and The Hollywood Reporter have posted the next round of cast members. Disturbia's Sarah Roemer is already set to star as the woman who "locks herself in her apartment for 30 days with no food, telephone, or outside stimuli," and Elisabeth Shue was cast as her doctor. Now we've got Frances Conroy, Will Patton, and word on Taryn Manning's character.

Conroy, who made a neurotic name for herself as Ruth Fisher on Six Feet Under, has been pretty well-cast as Dolly, "Madison's mother and a religious zealot who has her own mental-health issues," while Patton, who was most recently in A Mighty Heart, will play her dad, who is "loving but emotionally absent." Yet somehow, even though Madison has got a whole life of dysfunction, she thinks starving herself for a month will help heal her. Anyhow, Manning, whose casting has been listed on the film's website for a while, is playing Margaret -- "a fellow patient with sociopathic tendencies who resides at the psychiatric hospital with Madison." I'm not sure how Roemer's character can live in a hospital and an apartment, but we'll see soon enough. (Fie vague, confusing plot descriptions!) Production begins in New Orleans today.

While it might sound like some sort of Adam Sandler comedy, Waking Madison is actually an indie thriller from writer/director Katherine Brooks. A woman named Madison, who lives in New Orleans, is suffering from multiple personalities. She makes her money with phone sex, and "is doing everything she can to lead a normal life." A bunch of things happen to leave her desperate and suicidal, so she locks herself in her apartment for a whopping 30 days to try and heal herself. She has a video camera to use as a video journal, and vows to kill herself on the 30th day, if she doesn't feel more at peace by the end of her isolation. Variety says that she's without telephone or outside stimuli, but the film's website says she's doing it with the help of Dr. Elizabeth Barnes -- either the doc is in there with her, or has contact with her somehow. Of course, since this is a thriller, there's also a "climactic twist."

The way Variety describes it -- as a woman who locks herself away, alone, to cure her illness, sounds pretty silly, but considering the summary on the film's website, it sounds like this thriller will be more than that. Sarah Roemer, who was Shia LaBeouf's love interest in Disturbia, has signed on to star as Madison, and Elisabeth Shue, of babysitting fame, will play the doctor. On the film's website, Brooks says that they've also cast Taryn Manning as Margaret, Erin Kelly as Grace, and Imogen Poots as Alexis. It'll be interesting to see what Brooks makes of the female-centric cast, and I'm curious to see how Roemer will handle what looks to be a pretty intensive role.

While they haven't started filming, production begins in New Orleans on November 5, the indie's website is already pretty impressive. There's video, blogs, informations, chat rooms, forums, as well as a member's area where you can sign up for extra content and to even help pick the cast. It really seems like Brooks knows how to get the message out. Her own story, which is on the site as well, is pretty interesting to boot. She ran away from Louisiana at 16, to go to California with a measly $150, and ten years later she's become pretty darned successful. I, for one, can't wait to see what she does with this!